A Lot of Fight Left In Me
by Lupegarou4488
Summary: Sakura chooses to stay with Kakashi in a two man squad (because all of those lectures about teamwork had to mean something, right?)
1. Prologue

Tsunade knew the burden of responsibility that wearing the Hokage's robes really was. She'd seen three of the men who shaped her become bowed down and tired under the weight of the office. She'd seen countless others dying while proclaiming that they would bear that burden next. It was a responsibility that she'd been raised with, the knowledge that she might one day step into those robes and lead, even if no one, herself most of all, had honestly thought that she would be the only one left.

Even now, as she sifted through reports from the elders, from her Jounin and Chūnin Commanders, from the heads of T&I, the guilds and the councils, she wasn't sure she had made the right decision, coming back. She had spent nearly twenty years running from the burden of leading others and she wasn't sure that she could get back into the mindset that a true Hokage needed. She wasn't sure if that ability was lost to her, after two decades of caring only for herself and Shizune.

But she did know that Jiraiya standing in front of her desk, looking determined, meant that he was about to add to the list of things that were going to be sure to make the headache threatening to appear worse.

"Akatsuki is on the move." Jiraiya stood in front of her desk, stance combative but with his arms crossed defensively over his chest. Tsunade recognized the stance from when they were younger, when Jiraiya thought he was right but was prepared to be dismissed.

Tsunade barely glanced up from her paperwork. Danzo wanted to do _what_ with ANBU? Wasn't he retired or, better for everyone, dead? She scowled as she scrawled " _rejected_ " across the proposal instead of the " _no way in hell_ " that she wanted to. "That's nice, but I knew that – it's the direct catalyst that led to one of our most promising genin and the _last Uchiha_ defecting from the village at the same time that he managed to land eight other shinobi in the hospital, five of whom were in critical condition."

And wasn't that a headache and a half? She was going to have to deploy more of the jounin and chūnin than she was strictly comfortable with, leaving the defense of the village in the hands of genin and the few civilians that had some training, in order to make it appear that Konoha had not been unduly weakened even if the last member of one of their founding clans had defected. Tsunade truly wasn't sure if it would be better or worse for them to claim it was a kidnapping.

"No, Tsunade, I mean that Akatsuki are hunting jinchūriki." Tsunade's head snapped up and she gave Jiraiya her undivided attention, taking her attention away from the annual prison report. Her old teammate's face was a grim mask, age and worry combining to make him look nearly as old as Sarutobi-sensei had been instead of the only fifty that he truly was. "Naruto cannot stay in the village where he's easy to locate."

That was the last thing that Tsunade needed to hear. That was the last thing she needed the Council to hear, because they would order Naruto locked away somewhere, "for his own safety" of course, and that was not something that the blond would willingly tolerate and she wasn't sure that Minato's brat would tolerate either.

"Then take him on a training trip." She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "No one will know any different." And since Jiraiya was one of the three Sanin, there was only so much grumbling that the Elders – and the Council – could do. "But make sure it's soon, or the Elders and Council will try and trap you in the village."

She'd like to see them try, but the last thing the village needed was the destruction that an escape by Jiraiya would cause – or the scandal of having to declare him a missing nin. Not to mention that any chance of Jiraiya taking Naruto and vanishing would be completely lost.

"Is that an order, Hokage-sama?" She sneered at him for the use of her title, something that she would never get used to, not from him. Jiraiya had never done respectful well and it was ridiculous when he tried. But she'd play along with him this time.

"Yes. Your Hokage orders you to take your new apprentice on a training trip in order to get him settled into the role."


	2. Chapter the First

She nearly missed it in the dark, since the envelope had been shoved through the mail slot with enough force to send it skipping down the front hallway. It was dark colored and Sakura barely noticed the tremble in her hands as she took in the council seal. The Elder Council, no less.

 _Haruno Sakura,_

 _It has come to our attention that with the defection of Uchiha Sasuke that your squad is no longer complete. Due to these unfortunate circumstances, Training Squad Seven is dissolved, effective immediately. You will have seven days to arrange alternate training or be considered derelict in fulfilling your duties._

It wasn't signed.

It didn't need to be.

Sakura crumpled the letter as she fought back tears. This wasn't fair! She didn't have any clue how to find – let alone arrange – this alternate training. And more importantly, she didn't want to. Kakashi-sensei had told her that everything would be like it was and he'd _lied_.

Sakura took a trembling breath before admitting that that wasn't fair to Kakashi-sensei. But what was she supposed to do? This had never come up in the Academy and no one had ever even hinted that there was anything _but_ training squads, at least not for genin.

She changed for bed on autopilot as she contemplated and discarded plans to find something, anything, that she could do, steadily getting more and more angry. How could they just expect her to work out what to do? She was barely twelve! No one had ever told her there were options other than a training squad. And find something else? In less than a week? Sakura scoffed. She'd be lucky to have any application she filled out looked at in a week, let alone approved.

And as she drifted off to sleep, she made sure that the letter was right next to her head. She was going to remember that letter. And the council that sent it.

She still didn't have any idea what to do when she woke up the next morning. She thought that maybe she should find Kakashi-sensei but she hadn't seen him since before Naruto and the others had gone to try and get Sasuke back. She wasn't even sure if he was _in_ the village.

So that avenue was closed to her. She fingered the letter – shoved into her weapons pouch – as she prepared a quick breakfast and headed to the hospital to visit Naruto. Lee would be training, this early in the morning, before the nurses made their first rounds and discovered him out of bed and Sakura decided to visit him later in the day. After she'd figured out what to do about the letter.

Luckily Naruto was awake so Sakura didn't have to feel bad about showing up so early that he was still asleep, although he wasn't anywhere near his usual cheerful self. Sakura could understand that since she hadn't felt anything close to normal since the night Sasuke had… had disappeared.

 _Abandoned. Deserted. Left us._ Inner Sakura was in no mood to pull punches today and she could feel her nails digging into the palm of her hand.

"How long do you think that you'll have to stay here?" It seemed like a reasonable question, since Sakura had noticed Naruto's insanely accelerated recovery speed. But still, the wounds that he had taken were… well, they would have killed anyone else. That was what the nurse had been saying the other day, when she thought that Sakura hadn't been listening.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and grinned. "Baa-chan says that I can leave in a couple of days, isn't that great? She fixed me right up – and she says that she fixed up Choji and Neji!"

"That's great Naruto," Sakura replied absently… maybe… maybe she could ask Tsunade if she would be willing to take her as an apprentice, since Kakashi-sensei wasn't here? She wasn't sure that she wanted to be a medic-nin, but she also wasn't sure what other options were open to her. She refocused on her teammate, "Hey, I have to go run an errand, but I'll be back later to visit, alright?"

She barely waited for Naruto to acknowledge her before she was out the door, heading for Hokage Tower. 

"Akatsuki is hunting the jinchūriki. Naruto _cannot_ stay in the village." Jiraiya's voice carried easily through the door and Sakura froze, her hand hovering above the wood. She had just come from the hospital after visiting Naruto again and had been planning on asking the Hokage if the formidable woman would be willing to train her. She needed to be strong, she needed to find a teacher – the message that had been left in her mailbox made that very clear and she didn't even know if she was still assigned to Kakashi-sensei anyway.

"Then take him on a training trip – no one will know any different, but make sure it's soon, before the Elders or Council get wind of it and try and trap him in the village." Tsunade's voice sounded frustrated and tired, even more so than it had after she had finished healing Chouji and Kiba. Sakura moved her hand closer to the door, wanting to barge in and demand that Naruto not go, that her team not be broken any more than it already was.

But… Sakura backed away from the door and turned to go. The two Sanin wouldn't change their minds because she, a lowly genin of no special clan or talent, didn't want to lose her team.

 _Thunk_

 _Thunk_

 _Thunk_

Sakura threw another kunai at the target, worry and anger making her sloppy, as evidenced by the fact that, for the third time in less than a minute, she hit the tree behind where she was aiming. Naruto was in the hospital – had nearly died, if the nurse she had overheard hadn't been exaggerating. Sasuke was _gone_.

 _Thunk_

 _And he left you on a bench, unconscious._ Inner Sakura was in fine form, as she had been ever since she'd been shaken awake by Kotetsu and Izumo-san, who had been passing by. _Good riddance._

 _Thunk_

 _But he_ thanked _me_. She wanted to believe that that meant something, that they'd actually managed to become friends. She _needed_ it to mean something, because otherwise, what was the point of even having teams, if they fell apart so easily?

 _Thunk_

She paused in the middle of reaching for another kunai. What was she going to do? She knew that Naruto was leaving on some training trip with one of the Sanin and Sasuke… well, that left her, the girl with no clan and no one to recommend her. So what was she going to do? She hadn't even realized how much she clung to the idea of _team_ until it was going to be ruthlessly snatched away from her.

She resumed reaching for her pouch before dropping her hand to her side and trudging towards the tree she had inadvertently savaged. It was getting late and she wanted to go see Lee, since he'd managed to land himself back in the hospital for the next few days. He was sweet, even if she could only stand small doses, and she thought that she might be the only person that visited him – besides his team and she wasn't even sure if anyone other than the girl… Tenten, she thought, actually came. She certainly hadn't run into any of them during any of her visits.

Kunai stowed away, she grabbed one of the small white flowers that grew on the training ground; during the spring, the flowers carpeted the area for a few days before someone's training exercises would destroy them. But she had gotten into the habit of taking a flower of some sort with her whenever she visited Lee.

She glanced at the setting sun before she headed for the nearest building and scrambled up the side. This was something that she'd finally managed to figure out how to do on her own and it had made getting places faster if she took the roofs. Even if that meant that she got followed occasionally – most genin still hadn't gotten used to the idea that the rooftop was just as useful as using the streets, so she was an unusual – and suspicious – sight.

The nurses had a fourth story break room that always had a window open and after her third time using the sill as a landing spot, one of them had hauled her in and told her to just "use the window instead of risking breaking your neck when you readjust your balance to walk down the side of the building", so Sakura slipped in and immediately headed for Lee's room.

He was there, talking softly to his female teammate – Tenten, Sakura was pretty sure, but the only time she'd seen the other girl had been during the preliminary exams – but they both looked up when she entered. Sakura shuffled her feet, nervous. She'd never interacted with Lee's team, didn't know how to, really. It was easy with the others; they'd been year mates and friends long before they'd been split into teams and had over a half decade of interactions to fall back on. She didn't have any of that with these two. Only the beginnings of a friendship with Lee and after what had happened between Lee and the Sound shinobi and then Neji and Naruto she wasn't sure that would be enough.

"Hi Lee-kun." She held up the small flower like a shield. "I brought you another flower."

Lee's face lit up. "Sakura-chan!" He glanced between the two girls. "This is Tenten – she's awesome with weapons."

"It's nice to meet you." Sakura wasn't sure what to do now; she didn't want to interrupt but she didn't want to just leave. Lee, she had found, was surprisingly good company after they had made it past the declarations of love – and wasn't that a role reversal? She wasn't sure that she liked it and had to deal with the slightly queasy feeling that she had been the one to make Sasuke uncomfortable.

"And you." Tenten seemed polite enough and her gaze was friendly. "Do you want to stay? We were going to start a Go game, but we can switch to cards."

Sakura opened her mouth, about to refuse but stopped. "I'd like that." Visiting hours would be over soon and she could always talk to someone tomorrow. She was pretty sure that Iruka-sensei would be free tomorrow and he was usually at the mission desk if she couldn't find him at his apartment. She pulled up a chair and took the cards that Tenten was dealing. "I'm not very good at them though."

Tenten grinned. "We're going to have to fix that – all shinobi should know how to gamble. At least that's what Ebisu-san says."

Sakura wasn't sure who Ebisu was but as Tenten patiently walked her through the rules for Two-Ten-Jack, she forgot that in favor of having a few hours where she wasn't going to worry about her future or what tomorrow was going to bring.

The next morning found Sakura on her old sensei's doorstep, hand hovering over the door. Before she'd graduated, she wouldn't have hesitated to just barge in, but now… she wasn't sure what the protocol was for this. Iruka-sensei hadn't said she wasn't welcome to stop by but he hadn't said that she could either and she was, technically, an adult now. Sakura bit her lip. She didn't like not knowing what she was supposed to do.

"Hey! You're blocking the door!"

Sakura looked down to see a small group of children, probably no more than two or three years younger than her – and they looked so young, after Wave and then the invasion by Sand and Sound. She wondered how many of them spent their nights sleeping in Iruka's spare bedroom because there was no one at home. She stepped to the side, letting the students move past her, barging through the door, a chorus of "Iruka-sensei!" echoing through the small house.

The leader, a dark skinned girl with her hair held back by a red headband (Sakura thought she recognized her… Matsuri! Matsuri Takara), paused long enough to give her a confused look. "Aren't you coming in?"

Sakura followed them in, heading for the kitchen and its well-ordered chaos with Iruka in the center, passing out bowls and pointing the students towards the rice cooker and the sauces simmering on the stove. She paused in the doorway, not sure where her spot was, but Matsuri shoved a bowl into her hands and Sakura moved towards the rice and the nori.

Breakfast was loud and cheerful, with the children talking over and to each other as Sakura picked at her food and Iruka made sure that nothing got out of hand. Afterwards, cleanup was an assembly line of washing and drying that ended when Iruka chased the students out of the house with reminders that if their parents were on long term missions, they were to be back by dinner.

The kitchen seemed smaller without everyone in it and Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably, wishing her hair was long enough to twist between her fingers like she'd used to do. Iruka gave her a small smile and handed her a cup of tea before he motioned towards the table.

"How about you fill me in on what's been happening with you?"

Sakura latched onto the invitation to talk and told him everything that had happened in the last few weeks – she didn't think any of it was classified and she needed to tell someone. Iruka listened calmly, sipping his tea and watching her with concerned eyes as she unloaded two weeks' worth of fear, anger and worry on him.

"…and now I don't know what's supposed to happen!" She paused and took a breath. "Sensei, what happens when a team… just… breaks?"

Iruka sighed and got up to refill both their cups before he sat down again, his expression pensive. "That depends. There are a few options: you could be placed on another team that is also missing a member – I think that there's an opening on Asuma-san's team, you could find someone to apprentice with, the medics are always looking for new medic nin, or you could petition to remain with your jounin-sensei as a two man team."

Sakura's interest sharpened at that – she did want to be stronger and she was going to help Naruto drag Sasuke back, even if they had to break every bone in his body first. _And he'd deserve it, the absolute jerk_. But she didn't think that she could find someone to apprentice with that would teach her what she needed to know in order to get stronger the way she wanted – she didn't want to _heal_ Sasuke after all and she didn't have much to recommend her to anyone.

Iruka continued, "Your jounin-sensei also as to fill out the paperwork and present a plan that shows that you will be trained to the satisfaction of at least three other jounins and two Academy teachers in good standing."

"That… that sounds like a lot of paperwork." Sakura cringed at the sheer amount of convincing that she was going to have to attempt. Kakashi-sensei hated paperwork and had foisted it off on them as much as he'd been able to.

"It is – which is why so few genin bother with it. Most of them aren't that attached to their jounin and most jounin aren't that attached to their genin." Iruka eyed her over the rim of his cup and sighed. "But, _if_ someone were able to convince their jounin-sensei to fill out preliminary paperwork, I _might_ be persuaded to help design a rough training outline to present to the other teachers."

Sakura barely refrained from lunging across the table to hug Iruka – she could still be trained, if Kakashi could be persuaded and she wouldn't have to try and convince someone that a half civilian genin of no special talent was worth apprenticing or try and integrate onto another team (that was a nightmare in and of itself, even if it did wind up being only Ino and Chouji).

But… how was she going to find Kakashi, let alone convince him? She was well aware that she wasn't as strong as Naruto or as talented as Sasuke, that she was a civilian that was smart enough on anything that she could read and memorize, but she didn't have the raw talent that made for attractive apprentices. She mulled over the problem as she continued to talk to Iruka about rebuilding the Academy and what his new class was like.

Iruka stopped her as she was leaving, looking concerned. "Sakura-chan, you know that there isn't anything wrong with being placed on another team right? It isn't a sign of failure on your part."

"I know, Iruka-sensei, but I have to at least ask. Kakashi-sensei is a really good teacher." She assured him, but she didn't think that he really believed her. She didn't really believe her, after all, and she knew that the best way to tell a lie was to believe it yourself. As she hurried down the street, she took a deep breath. She could do this. She _could_.

It was nearly dinner by the time that Sakura admitted defeat and started towards the hospital. She could at least visit Lee before she headed back to her parent's house to sleep. She used the front door this time, not wanting to waste the chakra that wall climbing would expend and needing the time to go over what else she might be able to do to find Kakashi – unless he had left on a mission already? If he had, she might not see him for _weeks_ and she knew the council wasn't going to just let her be at loose ends for that long.

Tenten was there again, talking to Lee, and Sakura hovered outside the door, once again not sure if her presence would be welcomed. But before she could retreat, Tenten noticed her and waved her in. "Hey, Sakura-chan. We were getting ready to start another card game, if you want to join us." She held up the deck as evidence and Sakura smiled. She had had fun the other day and maybe…. Sakura eyed Tenten. Lee had said she was good with weapons – maybe the older girl would be willing to work with her? She let Tenten deal the cards and played a few rounds before asking.

"What are you guys going to be doing while you're waiting for Hyuga-chan to get discharged?" Sakura narrowed her eyes as Lee's face lit up. She wasn't sure if he was acting or if he really had that bad of a poker face – they hadn't played enough rounds last night for her to know one way or the other.

"Training by ourselves mostly, since Lee is discharged tomorrow." Tenten shrugged and discarded some cards. "Gai-sensei told us that he's going to need to take more missions for the next couple of months, since the village can't seem like its weak after… after everything."

"Oh." Sakura picked up the cards Tenten had dropped and scowled, immediately discarding them. "Do you mind if I trained with you?"

"Sure." The older girl agreed. "We train really early though. At dawn early."

Sakura almost said no – she didn't want to get up at _dawn_. She took a deep breath and forced herself to nod. "Alright. Which training ground?"

"Two."

At least she knew where that one was – there were close to fifty training grounds in all, though only eight were in the village proper. The rest were between the walls and the second set of wards that had been placed in the forest that surrounded and protected the village.

"I'll be there – is there anything that I should bring with me?" She wasn't sure what type of training that Tenten and Lee did and didn't want to inconvenience them by asking for weapons or whatever else that they might have. Tenten shrugged and made a face at her cards – not a good hand, then.

"Water and whatever kunai you have." Tenten gave her a searching look. "Unless you have a weapon that you specialize in?" She sounded so hopeful that Sakura felt a little bad when she shook her head in the negative. Tenten sighed in disappointment. "Oh. Well, you could try some of mine and see if there's any you like?"

"That…" Sakura smiled tentatively. "That would be nice."

She was never ever, never ever doing this again. She wanted to _die_ and they'd barely been training for _an hour._ But Tenten had been true to her word and had let Sakura try as many of the older girl's weapons as she wanted. They'd decided that she didn't have the muscle (for now) to manage any of the swords and so had concentrated on the smaller weapons.

Now they were working on her taijutsu. Or rather, Lee was working with her on taijutsu while Tenten watched from the sidelines and gave – frequently scathing – commentary about her form, endurance and strength. The only thing that kept Sakura from screaming at Tenten was the helpful tips that she interjected into her commentary and Sakura knew that she would be coming back tomorrow.

"You do this every day?" Sakura rested her hands on her knees and tried to look like she wasn't about to collapse while she mentally resolved to expand her training schedule at the first opportunity. This was ridiculous, she couldn't be that weak. At least, she hoped not. Tenten handed her a canteen, looking somewhere between amused and sympathetic.

"Yup. Gai-sensei is determined to make sure that all of us don't have to rely on ninjutsu or genjutsu." Tenten shrugged and took a sip from her own canteen. "Not every opponent is going to be weak against them, but most opponents will go down if you can hit them in the right spot. Besides, both Neji and Lee's styles don't involve ninjutsu."

Sakura considered this as her breathing returned to normal and the red flush of her skin began to fade into the lighter tones that she was used to. "Makes sense. We spent most of our time – well, I spent most of my time building up my stamina. The boys had more."

"Well, we're going to be here every day if you want to join us." Tenten looked her over. "I can dig up the exercises that Gai-sensei started us on and give them to you to use until you get better."

"That would be great." And if she could incorporate it into the lesson plan that she was going to get Iruka-sensei to help with, that was one problem out of the way. Now, if only she could find Kakashi-sensei and _get him to sign the paperwork._

She straightened and glanced at the sun, deciding that it was late enough the library was probably open so she could get her hands on the forms she needed and fill them out herself. Maybe if Kakashi-sensei only had to sign his name it would be easier to convince him. "I need to get some papers from the library, but I'll see you and Lee tomorrow."

"Alright. You seemed like you'd be good with the tonfas, so we can start you on those." Tenten's smile was conspiratorial. "But we'll keep it a secret, since I'm not supposed to actually train anyone with them; I don't have the certification yet."

Sakura returned the grin. "Your secret's safe with me."

She started towards the center of the city at a light jog, turning so that she could cut through training ground three and past the memorial stone – it only took a few minutes off her journey, but she needed to waste as little time as possible. Naruto was getting discharged tomorrow and she'd need to have something to present to someone by then.

She was giving the memorial stone wide berth but stopped when she saw the flash of gray that could only be her teacher's hair as he crouched in front of the stone. She paused but continued making her way towards the library; she wasn't going to interrupt anyone's time in front of the stone and at least she knew where she could probably find him now. She stumbled as she wondered if this was why he was always late. She sort of hoped not – it was too depressing otherwise.

The archives were located behind the Hokage Tower and nearly a hundred yards into Hokage Mountain, behind wards and seals that had been placed by the First Hokage's wife and were reinforced yearly by the current Hokage and the top three Fūinjutsu experts in the village. She could feel the wards responding to seals that were carved into the metal plate of her hitai-ate, allowing her access to the archive's front doors.

"Haruno Sakura. Registration number 0126010."

The chūnin in charge of the desk held out a hand, looking bored. "Identification."

Sakura dug out her ID and waited patiently as the chūnin examined the slip of plastic before he handed it back, rattling off instructions as he did, "Genin authorization only, no scrolls with anything higher than E-rank techniques are to be removed from the premises, don't make copious amounts of noise, if you need help there are summoning seals every third pillar and the training halls need to be reserved at least four hours in advance. Any questions?"

"No." Sakura moved past him into the library and took in what appeared to be miles of shelves. There were other rooms, further back, for chūnin and jounin, but the three main rooms allowed access to every ninja in the village. And the forms she needed would be in one of the smaller rooms off to the side, along with forms for retirement, marriage, and advancement requests. This librarian was an older woman who peered at Sakura suspiciously when she made her request. "I can't remember the last time anyone asked for those forms. What do you need them for?"

Sakura bit her lip and looked off to the side, the picture of embarrassment. "Both my teammates received apprenticeships from other jounin, so I'm at loose ends at the moment." It was true, in a sense – she was sure that Sasuke would be learning from Orochimaru while he was with him, so she wasn't lying.

"And they left you out in the cold?" The old woman made a disapproving noise as she began to shuffle papers around. "It will take me a while to find them. Come back in a half hour or so and I'll get you started on filling them out." She continued to mutter sourly under her breath as her turned her back to Sakura, digging through piles of papers.

Clearly dismissed, Sakura wandered back into the main room, roaming through the stacks without a clear destination in mind. She slid her fingers over the scrolls, not really taking in what they were about, until she came to the end of the shelf. She was about to start wandering down the next aisle, but paused. This was a library – there was probably a scroll somewhere that would help her build her chakra reserves that _wasn't_ tree walking.

She began wandering with more purpose, heading for the physical education section. There were probably one or two scrolls that she would be allowed to check out – hopefully. Except, she couldn't find the physical education section. She scowled at the stacks, glaring at the end plates and wishing that she had thought to spend more of her time here before now. She stomped over to the summon seal on the nearest pillar and slapped her hand on it, hoping that it wouldn't take long for someone to show up.

"That's not very nice." The voice was familiar, as was the amused tone, and Sakura turned around to face, "Kotetsu-san!" The chūnin was a nearly permanent fixture at Iruka-sensei's house and Sakura had more than a few memories of him during her childhood. Most of Iruka's gaggle of Academy children did.

"What are you doing here?" She flushed deep red the moment the question left her mouth. How could she be so rude? "I mean… usually you're at the gate or…. I'm going to stop talking now."

Luckily the older man didn't seem offended, only amused. "I'm taking a turn as a library helper, since Izumo is busy with other duties." Or, Izumo had been tapped for an out of village mission and Kotetsu was distracting himself by taking extra work. Sakura couldn't name a time when those two weren't joined at the hip, so this was kind of weird. "What do you need help with?"

"Oh!" Sakura gestured at the stacks. "I was looking for chakra building exercises, but I don't know where they'd be."

"Physical education if you're looking for exercises like tree walking. Or the philosophy section if you want to try meditation." Kotetsu started walking and Sakura hurried after him, taking note of which direction they were heading – she really didn't want to get lost!

"Um… probably the physical exercises. I don't suppose that there are any that also build stamina?" She asked hopefully – if she could kill two birds with one stone that would make her life easier.

"Sure – they're D-rank exercises though, so you won't be able to take them out of the library, but Iruka probably has some copies at his house if you write the title down." Kotetsu gave her a sideways look. "If you need help, Izumo and I are both available in the evenings."

"I'd… I'd need to talk to Kakashi-sensei, but if he says yes… I'd like that Kotetsu-san." Sakura reached for long hair that wasn't there and dropped her hand back to her side. "But… why? I mean, you have to have better things to do than work with me."

"You're one of Iruka's kids and you're a fellow ninja that needs help." Kotetsu gently tapped her hitai-ate in reminder. "I realize that we're not jounin, but chūnin don't mind helping out even if we don't formally teach." He grinned. "I admit, I mostly work with newly promoted chūnin, but there shouldn't be anything wrong with helping out a genin."

They went around another corner. "Here you go." Kotetsu turned to go. "Talk to Hatake-san and let me know. You know where to find us in the evenings."

"I will! Thank you again Kotetsu-san." Sakura began digging through the scrolls, skimming their contents before she placed them back on the shelves. By the time the old librarian's time limit had passed, Sakura had found two scrolls that looked like they had potential and memorized the titles. She could ask Iruka if he owned copies or, if not, she could ask him the best way to buy the scrolls herself. She still had plenty of money saved up from all her D-rank missions.

She ducked into the room to see the librarian pulling out a pen before the old woman gestured her over. "Now, you're going to fill this out before you leave, so that I know it's done right. No point in having it rejected because you can't fill boxes correctly."

It took her two hours to fill in all the information that Sakura knew and guess at the rest, but the librarian didn't seem to mind, since she let Sakura sit to the side of the desk and looked over each section after Sakura had filled it out.

"Thank you very much." It was all that Sakura could think to say, after she was done and had cleaned up the corner of the desk she had been using. "I don't think that I could have found everything I needed on my own."

"Of course you couldn't have – you're a genin. Most genin don't learn how to do all this," a wave encompassed the library, "until they're chūnin."

That was true; this was only the second time that Sakura had set foot in the library since she graduated and the first time was just to prove to herself that she could, since this place was off limits to civilians. Clan children, with their access to their own family libraries, might not see the point in coming, since any scrolls here they could read at home.

"Come back if you need any more help, it'll keep the library workers on their toes if they actually have to do some work for once." The old woman smiled and Sakura returned it with one of her own. "I will, definitely."


End file.
